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Author: Kat

Kat Latham writes sexy contemporary romance, including the London Legends rugby series. With degrees in English lit and human rights, she loves stories that reflect the depth, humor and emotion of real life. She's a California girl living in the Netherlands with her baby girl and British husband.

Friends, have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you decided to take a little break, only to wake up one day and realize you put something you love on the back burner for three whole years?

Hello. My name is Kat, and I never intended to stop writing for so long.

But sometimes life gets in the way of good intentions.

Back in 2016, I gave birth to my second daughter. I also had a severe hemorrhage and had to be rushed to the operating room to stop me from bleeding to death. The hospital staff were amazing and helped me quickly, but I lost so much blood that I was badly anemic for a long time after. It was months before I had the strength to leave my house. Months before I could follow a simple conversation. I had good days that would convince me I was all better, and then bad days when I felt drugged and could barely cuddle my kids, much less get out of bed.

For the first year, my focus shifted to my physical recovery. I had to slowly rebuild my strength. Then came reintegrating in my work. And, of course, through all this time I was spending as much time as possible with my little ones, the youngest of whom kept waking up every few hours FOR THREE WHOLE YEARS.

Fam, I was exhausted, sucked dry of every ounce of creativity. I gave everything to all these other crucial parts of my life, and I had nothing left for fiction.

But I missed it. I missed creating my own stories. And I miss you guys. Really, really missed the conversations about books and life that I’ve enjoyed with so many readers and writers over the years.

So I asked my boss if I could take a sabbatical, and she very kindly agreed.

Right now, I’m in the middle of my sabbatical, and my creativity is EXPLODING. This is both good and bad.

Good: I’m writing every day. Every. Single. Day. My head is full of stories. All kinds of stories. I even wrote about the Tower of Babel for my friend’s latest art exhibition. He turned my writing into panels using watercolor pencils.

Me at the opening night for the Babel exhibitionArtwork by Julio Pastor

Bad: I’m finding it hard to focus on what to prioritize. I’m working on four different books in four different genres (contemporary romance, middle grade, historical fiction, and short stories — not really a genre, but whatever).

Also bad: There are days anxiety gets the better of me. It tells me I can’t write a good book. It tells me that the last scene I wrote is terrible and I should delete it and start over. Those four books in four genres? I’ve written the beginning of those stories in about ten different ways. So even though my sabbatical is half over and I’ve been working my bumkins off, I still won’t have a book out for a while.

But I am back. And I’m writing again. And I’m ready to start connecting with you all again.

Because you guys are the best. Seriously, some of you sent me emails checking in to see how I was doing over the past few years, and I can’t tell you what an encouragement that is. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Hi all. Today’s a good news/bad news day. First the bad news. I won’t be blogging for at least the next month. Today was supposed to be my first day back at work after my maternity leave; instead, it’s my first day of sick leave. I’m still suffering the effects of bad anemia after my postpartum hemorrhage. It affects my ability to write, to comprehend what I’m reading, and to concentrate on things like conversations. Even writing this post is taking a lot of effort, as I keep misspelling words and have to read it over and over to try to catch typos. After I write this post, I’ll have to go lie down and close my eyes for a while.

I’ve been signed off work through May, possibly longer. Hopefully I’ll be able to start writing and working in June, but we’ll have to see. Right now I’m taking things one day at a time. I didn’t want to disappear without saying anything, though, and I also wanted to really quickly let you know about a great deal for iBooks readers.

Here’s the good news. Montana Born Books is putting out a special Mother’s Day bundle exclusively on iBooks (so you won’t be able to get it anywhere else). It includes my RITA-nominated novel One Night with Her Bachelor as well as novels by Sarah Mayberry and Jane Porter. It comes out on May 3, but you can preorder it now! (I think it will be removed completely at the end of May, so make sure you snap it up quickly!)

New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors bring you three sweet and sexy romances perfect for a Mother’s Day treat. Buy it exclusively at iBooks!

Make-Believe Wedding by Sarah Mayberry
Everyone in Marietta, Montana, is in love and getting married – at least that’s the way it feels to Andie Bennett the night of the Valentine’s Ball. As she watches the man she’s loved from afar for half her life dance with another woman, Andie allows herself a moment of sheer fantasy as she fills out a stray entry form for the Great Wedding Giveaway. Andie channels years of fantasy and yearning for Heath McGregor onto the page, but she never intends to actually enter the Giveaway. Only a crazy woman would do that. But fate has other ideas….

When Heath learns he and Andie are last minute finalists in the Great Wedding Giveaway, he’s completely baffled. How on earth could anyone make such a ridiculous mistake? When it becomes clear that Andie will be humiliated if the slip-up becomes public, Heath does what any good friend would – he suggests they pretend the engagement is real until the Giveaway is over and then quietly “break up” when no one is paying any attention. It’s the perfect solution, except Heath very quickly realises that pretending Andie is his is no hardship at all. In fact, it may just be the best thing that’s ever happened to him…

Taming of the Bachelor by Jane Porter
Dillon Sheenan refuses to be tamed…

After three years running the family ranch, sexy thirty-year-old Dillon Sheenan has a one way plane ticket out of Montana. He’s eager to put small town life, with its emphasis on brides, babies, and families, behind him as he’s certainly not interested in being a dad, or even ready to settle down.

Beautiful single mom, Paige Joffe, juggles a lot, between running Main Street Diner and coping with her money-pit of a Victorian on Bramble Lane. She doesn’t have time for anything but taking care of the loves of her life, Addison and Tyler, and working to pay down bills. But one date–and an incredibly hot kiss–with Dillon Sheenan wakes her up and makes her dream again.

Until she finds out Dillon’s already bought his ticket out of town…

Is Dillon about to break the heart of the only woman he’s ever loved?

One Night with Her Bachelor by Kat Latham Bid on a date with this wounded warrior for an unforgettable night of adventure. Aim high—and bid higher!—because no one comes close to local hero Gabriel Morales.

Molly Dekker hates being the town charity case, but when her son Josh is seriously injured she has no choice. She lets her best friend organize a bachelor auction to help pay her massive bills and make Josh’s life more comfortable. She can’t bid on any of the men, but a surprise bidder gives her a gift she never expected: a date with the man who saved her son’s life—the only one she’s in danger of losing her heart to.

Former Air Force pararescueman Gabriel Morales made a career of flying to the rescue, until a tragic helicopter crash stole more than his livelihood. Being auctioned off like a slab of beef isn’t in his recovery plan. But one look, one touch and one night unlocking Molly’s pent-up passion make him realize how badly he needs to be rescued…and how badly he wants to rescue Molly right back.

Will Molly and Gabriel’s never-quit attitude have them rushing head-first into love? Or will Gabriel’s secret pain stall their relationship before it can get off the ground?

Friday was a day of BIG EXCITEMENT around Latham HQ (aka my couch). I got a phone call from HelenKay Dimon — one of my favorite authors — saying that I’m not only a finalist for a RITA award but that I’m a DOUBLE finalist!

My in-laws spent this weekend with us, and when I got the call everyone in the house was busy except my almost-three-year-old daughter, Doodle Bug. I sneaked away to answer the phone away from the busyness in my living room, but Doodle Bug sought me out and crawled onto my lap as I talked (okay, babbled and cried) to HelenKay. When I hung up, Doodle said, “What you talking ’bout, Mama?”

I knew she wouldn’t understand words like finalist or contest, and she doesn’t know that I write books (she just knows that I work on the computer), so I told her, “The person on the phone called to tell me that people like the work I do.”

She threw her little arms around my neck and yelled, “Oh, Mama!” as she gave me a huge hug. It was the most amazing feeling I can imagine.

Smarty Pants went out and bought champagne, and I spent the rest of the weekend exhausted from the excitement (damn you, anemia). I actually meant to publish this blog post on Friday, but it took me four days to write it because I can only concentrate on a few sentences at a time.

Bid on a date with this wounded warrior for an unforgettable night of adventure. Aim high—and bid higher!—because no one comes close to local hero Gabriel Morales.

Molly Dekker hates being the town charity case, but when her son Josh is seriously injured she has no choice. She lets her best friend organize a bachelor auction to help pay her massive bills and make Josh’s life more comfortable. She can’t bid on any of the men, but a surprise bidder gives her a gift she never expected: a date with the man who saved her son’s life—the only one she’s in danger of losing her heart to.

Former Air Force pararescueman Gabriel Morales made a career of flying to the rescue, until a tragic helicopter crash stole more than his livelihood. Being auctioned off like a slab of beef isn’t in his recovery plan. But one look, one touch and one night unlocking Molly’s pent-up passion make him realize how badly he needs to be rescued…and how badly he wants to rescue Molly right back.

Will Molly and Gabriel’s never-quit attitude have them rushing head-first into love? Or will Gabriel’s secret pain stall their relationship before it can get off the ground?

After three years in prison, freight train engineer Lacey Gallagher doesn’t expect this Christmas to be very merry and bright. At least chopping down trees for her brother’s Christmas tree farm will help her save money to get her life back on track. All her plans derail, though, when her new job puts her in territory patrolled by the man who haunts her dreams—the forest ranger who sent her to prison.

Austin Wilder isn’t thrilled about Lacey working in his forest—but he soon realizes he needs her help. His family is depending on him to restore an old steam train for a spectacular Christmas event, and train expert Lacey is his only hope of finishing in time.

Working together challenges every assumption Lacey and Austin have about each other, and they discover a desire hot enough to melt even the deepest Montana snow. But will the season of second chances be enough to mend the most hardened broken heart?Read Chapter One

I bought all the books in my category and will be reading them whenever I have the energy to read (damn you again, anemia). You can see the full list of RITA nominees here. I was thrilled to see several of my friends on the list (including HelenKay herself! Okay, I’ll stop gushing now.) and can’t wait to celebrate with them in San Diego. Have you read any of the nominated books in any of the categories? What did you think?

Thanks to everyone who voted in Round 2, Taming the Legend has made it to the Sweet Sixteen in DABWAHA! Woot!

One voter in Round 2 won a London Legends prize pack and a $10 gift certificate to an online bookstore. The winner is… Scarlett Storm! Congrats, Scarlett! Also, someone won Taming the Legend and five DABWAHA ebooks of their choice, and that person is… Deborah Adams! Scarlett and Deborah, email me at kat@katlatham.com to claim your prize.

**Voting is now open in Round 3, and I’m giving away more goodies!**

Now Taming the Legend is facing Act Like it by Lucy Parker. Her book features a couple of actors in London, so it’s London vs. London… but only one book has a team of sexy rugby players! And you know what they say about rugby players, right?

Vote for men who play with oddly shaped balls!

Would you like a chance to win a London Legends prize pack (including a tote bag, fun swag and one London Legends ebook of the winner’s choice) PLUS a $20 gift certificate to an online bookstore? Of course you would!

Here’s how you vote and enter the giveaway:

1. Vote for Taming the Legend here. (Note: Voting is only open until midnight EST today, so HURRY!) Make a mental note of how many votes my book has after you vote.

Woo hoo! We did it! Thanks to the votes of awesome readers, Taming the Legend won Round 1 of DABWAHA, and one reader/voter/newsletter subscriber won a London Legends prize pack. The winner is… Jennifer Valentine! Congrats, Jennifer! Email me at kat@katlatham.com to claim your prize.

We’re up against Anticipation by my lovely friend Sarah Mayberry. Anticipation was one of my favorite books of last year, and it’s tough to compete with a Brazilian tattoo artist, but I think a sexy rugby player can do it, don’t you?

In this round, I’m giving away another London Legends prize pack to someone who votes for Taming the Legend (including a tote bag, fun swag and one London Legends ebook of the winner’s choice) PLUS a $10 gift certificate to the online bookstore of the winner’s choice.

Here’s how you vote and enter the giveaway:

1. Vote for Taming the Legend here. (Note: Voting is only open till 12 noon EST today, so HURRY!) Make a mental note of how many votes my book has after you vote.

2. Fill in the Rafflecopter form below (or fill it in here, if you can’t see it below). You’ll need to enter the number of votes Taming the Legend has received in order to confirm that you voted.